Black Ops Blackout: What PUBG Wished It Was

Treyarch has taken its first step into the increasingly popular Battle Royale video game genre, and it is taking no prisoners. This past weekend I spent a good chunk of time playing this new first person Battle Royale game, and I actually had a hard time putting down the controller.

Now I am the first to point out that I am horrible at any FPS that isn’t Overwatch, and I am notoriously terrible at both PUBG and Fortnite. There will be no stories here about how I won this epic duel against another Beta play, or how my team crushed three others in NukeTown. I was usually killed within the first few minutes of the game, or maybe after the first collapse of the playable area, and would die stupidly as well. There would either be someone killing me in a bathroom, in a totally open field with no cover, or swimming to shore. But unlike the other popular BR games I didn’t say “screw it” and launch myself back into the comfort of Numbani, but I sucked it up and went back out there to take in the amazing map filled with nostalgia, and random zombies that would pop out of diners in a mad attempt to survive with a group of strangers.

We had the chance to sit down with Tony Flame who is one of the game designers for Treyarch and was able to talk a little bit about Blackout which was still yet to see the light of Beta. He mentions that he and the other dev’s had a real hard time putting the game down when they were testing it themselves, they were just obsessed with playing this new format with all the tight combat and vehicle controls that CoD is known for. I can see why though because It brings a great experience full of nostalgia and map components that you loved from all the other games and places it in one massive map. He also stated that you don’t need to be a hardcore gamer to progress through this either, they have taken the time to ensure that there is equal progression, and you don’t feel left behind even if you are a weekend gamer. We will be able to see legacy skins, guns, and fun things added to the map as time goes on, making this a game that will not get stale any time soon.

Something incredible though for PC players out there though is that Flame talked about the time and detail that the PC version of Blackops has gotten. It will not just be a simple port from Xbox, but its own entity that has been developed with PC gamers in mind. They will have full support to ensure that the best framerates and gameplay is available at launch to ensure that PC gamers get what they deserve from an online shooter and Battle Royale.

One big thing that I want to stress though about this game is that you need to play this with friends. Get a group that you know and trust to group with or it will be very difficult to progress to the end. You can join solo games, and you can join up in matchmaking with another person or group to take on Blackout, but you run a large chance of being grouped with someone who doesn’t respond, doesn’t care, or is straight up toxic and ruins the match for everyone involved. But if you do get the chance to randomly group up with someone who is awesome, take the time to be friends and group up again, you will connect with someone who likes the game as much as you and will not leave you to die alone in a bathroom while they looted the room next to your struggling corpse. (not saying that happened to me).

Treyarch has done a great job with Blackout by not just reskinning something that has been copied by a lot of different developers out there. They have made a solid experience that fans of Battle Royale and classic FPS fans will enjoy.

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